In July 2017 I attended the California Geo Teacher Institute (CAGTI) along with one hundred other Educators from across North America. Throughout the 3-day event at Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley, I learned so much about digital geo tools for the classroom and realized that I never shared all of the amazing takeaways on my blog! 

Geo Tools are getting more and more sophisticated every day and there are tons of benefits of using them in the classroom with students of all ages. The ideas and possibilities are endless!

Here’s a list of Digital Geo Tools that I compiled from #CAGTI17 that you can use in the classroom:

Google Earth –The same tool you know and love but now it’s available online!

• Voyager – Interactive guided tours in Google Earth put together by scientists, storytellers and different organizations.
• This is Home – Stories of different cultures and visits to homes around the world.

MyMaps – Create, share and personalize your own maps.

Space – Visit different planets on Google Maps!

Map of Life (MOL) – This map of life on earth allows you to search by country or region to see what species of animals and plants live there. (Also available in French!)

Tour Builder – Document your travels, city or experiences using Google Earth. You can choose the locations right in the map, add photos, videos and even share what you’ve made.

Play Maps Cube – A fun 3D map game where you guide a ball around on a cube with maps as sides.

GeoGuessr – An addictive game that drops you anywhere in Street View and you have to figure out where you are. Here’s my blog post about it.

Smarty Pins – Putting Trivia on the Map. A fun trivia game on Google Maps.

Google Earth Engine – Check out the time lapse feature to go back in time with maps! Go back in time to see map changes in slow, medium or fast speeds.

Google Maps Timeline – Check out where you’ve been in Maps, plug in the date and see where you’ve been and even which photos you’ve taken.

Google Lit Trips – Lit Trips are online files that mark the journeys of characters from famous books on the surface of Google Earth.

GE Teach – Use this site to compare two maps side-by-side at the same time.

Globe Reflections – Have fun playing with a world map and reflections of it with this interactive map. Point, drag,  and click to explore–what do you see?

Satellite Imagery Alphabet – Find letters using satellite images The Earth Observatory has assembled photos of all of the letters of the alphabet. What will your students find? I spelled “Geo” below!

The True Size Of – Compare the size of countries with others on this interactive map of the world.

Antipodes – A cool map that helps you find the antipodes (the other side of the world) of any place in the world. Where would you be if you dug a straight line through the earth?

Global Surface Water Explorer – The history of water on the planet via maps and datasets.

Real World Math – a collection of free math activities for Google Earth designed for students and teachers.

I Know Where Your Cat Lives – A map of geotagged cats from Instagram! This is a great tool to spark discussions with students about digital citizenship.

Have fun exploring these digital geo tools with your students and taking your geography lessons to the next level!